Incentivizing Mountain Communities for Ecosystem Services in a Changing Climate

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), and partners will host a special session on incentivizing mountain communities for ecosystem services in the context of a changing climate at the International Conference on Biodiversity, Climate Change Assessment and Impacts on Livelihoods set to take place in Kathmandu from 10 to 12 January 2017.

The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), a global asset, is rich in cultural and biological diversity, and natural resources. It is also home to inaccessible, remote, and fragile regions where local populations live in poverty. Managing ecosystems in the region is challenging as local livelihoods depend heavily on natural ecosystems. The resilience of upstream ecosystems needs to be given special consideration in order to retain a sustainable supply of ecosystem services that people living in both upstream and downstream regions can avail of. This calls for innovative approaches to incentivizing upstream communities to conserve ecosystems as their livelihood subsistence options are limited to land use practices that affect both agriculture and forests.

Payment for ecosystem services (PES), as described by Wunder et al (2005, 2008), is mostly based on market based solutions. However, in the mountains, especially in the HKH, pure market based solutions may not be effective. Arable land for use in commercial purposes is limited, and mountain people have a higher dependence on natural ecosystems than people living downstream do. Often, mountain areas are inaccessible, with limited transport and other infrastructure. Moreover, the changing climate brings additional challenges to mountain communities who already deal with low agricultural productivity. Therefore, a hybrid model based on the assessment of rich ecosystem services considering both market and non-market instruments for potential PES schemes looks promising. This also means that payment may not be necessarily in cash, but in kind services in the form of development projects to incentivize upstream communities, and encourage their efforts towards managing upstream ecosystems.

Alongside ICIMOD resource persons, researchers from Bangladesh, Bhutan, and India will be participating in the session. Discussions will take place around incentivizing mountain communities for their contributions to securing ecosystem services, with a particular focus on the HKH. The session organizers will request the researchers and policy makers in attendance to agree on possible modalities on an incentive based mechanism to retain a sustainable supply of ecosystem services in a changing climate.

Session objectives:
Interpret the general understanding of ecosystem services and their significance for the HKH
Deliberate on research-policy linkages to support incentives for ecosystem services
Develop a common framework for incentives for ecosystem services in the Himalaya

Proposed Session Plan
Moderator: Laxmi Dutt Bhatta, ICIMOD
Session Chair: SP Garkoti, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India
Rapporteurs: Pratikshya Kandel and Sunita Ranabhat (ICIMOD)
Time: 2 hours

09.00-09.25
Keynote
Himalayan Ecosystem Services: Expanding the application of the concept in a changing world
Surender P Singh

09.25-0935
Ecosystem services perspectives in ICIMOD’s transboundary Landscapes
Nakul Chettri, Pratikshya Kandel, Yi Shaoliang, Philip Bubb, Wu Ning and Eklabya Sharma

09.35-09.45
Ecological Calendars: Enabling the participation of indigenous and civil society to cope with climate change in the Asian highlands
Xu Jianchu

09.45-09.55
Role of Traditional Agroforestry Systems in generating Ecosystem Services in a Trans-Himalayan landscape of India
Satish C Garkoti, RL Semwal and Padma Ladon

09.55-10.05
Ecosystem Services and Environmental Conditions Perspectives in Bangladesh
AKM Nazrul-Islam

10.05-10.15
Payment for Environment Services (PES) in Bhutan – Current Issues, Approaches and Practices
Norbu Lungten

10.15-10.25
Ensuring the Availability of Drinking Water to Water Users through Payment for Ecosystem Services (A Case of Baitadi Town Water Supply and Sanitation Project, Nepal)
Rajesh Rai, Laxmi Bhatta, Madan Khadayat and Kamal Aryal

10.25-10.45
Discussion

10.50-11.00
Remarks by Chair

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